Former Saudi international referee Omar Al-Muhanna revealed that his wife received a phone threat from a fan before the Saudi Al-Hilal and Al-Ta’i teams in the Saudi League, which he was charged with managing.
Al-Muhanna, who later served as chairman of the Referees Committee of the Saudi Federation, told UFM Sports Radio, which posted a sound clip on his account on Twitter, during which he spoke about the incident: “Before my administration of the Al-Hilal and Al-Ta’i match, one of the people called from Hail and my wife replied and he was threatening.” , Without listing any other details.
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Omar Al-Muhanna: My wife was threatened before the Al Hilal and Al Taie match.
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"I speak for myself personally ... The referees should stay away from the media because you will be affected. But during the match you will forget everything," he added, adding: "I have judged many of the Riyadh derby encounters between Al-Hilal and Al-Nasr, and the fact is one of the best games on the field, they devote themselves to playing a ball Significantly".
He continued: "The referees must devote themselves to football, as sport in the hobby era is better for referee and the player than the current period, in which the focus is largely on material, not love, desire and hobby, and I personally was a goalkeeper in Al-Nahda club before the arbitration and I got away from the Al-Nahda match after I became a referee so that there is no suspicion. "
The Mohanna threat incident is not considered the only one in the threat-ruled arbitration corps to have reached the point of intimidation with death, as happened with English referee Mark Halsey, who was subsequently forced to retire after receiving death threats for arbitration errors in the Wigan and Newcastle United match in the English Premier League in 2013.
Football history testifies that Swedish referee Anders Frisk is among the most referees who have been exposed to risk due to the whistle, and he also announced his retirement after receiving threats to him and his family after a match he played in the Champions League between Barcelona and Chelsea in 2009.
Also in Sweden, referee Ales Finzkan received a death threat, according to the Swedish Football Association in an official statement in 2018, as the referee received a message saying: "You will not live long if you continue to work as a referee!".